


Those Long Days, This Dumb Luck

by APgeeksout



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Gen, Rarewomen Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-27
Updated: 2013-04-27
Packaged: 2017-12-09 16:15:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/776206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/APgeeksout/pseuds/APgeeksout
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On days like this, a girl needs her best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Those Long Days, This Dumb Luck

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bay/gifts).



> Set post-Promised Day. Title snagged from Rhett Miller's "Brand New Way".

“Riza Hawkeye! Paging Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye!” Rebecca's voice rang down the hallway, cutting easily through the commotion in the hospital corridor turned makeshift waiting room. The privates working crowd control in the main lobby had told her Colonel Mustang had been brought to this wing, and she knew that where Mustang went, her best friend was sure to be close by.

“Rebecca!” She followed the call, and finally located Riza, tucked into an alcove and waving an arm to catch her attention.

She suppressed a gasp as she drew closer. Rebecca knew that grit and smoke clung to her own skin and hair. She wasn’t under any illusions that she’d emerged from the fighting looking a treat, but Riza was a mess. Her jacket was stained the rust brown of spilled blood, the same caked in her gold hair and smeared over her throat until it disappeared beneath a clean white bandage. Her hair was falling down from its usual practical twist, strands straggling loose around her face and plastered to her neck with sweat and grime. Her expression was pinched, tired. 

"Are you broken anywhere?" she asked. "I’m hugging you, unless you stop me."

“All in one piece.” Riza smiled weakly, her eyes suspiciously bright, and Rebecca reeled her into a tight squeeze. She caught sight of Mustang, slumped against the wall and looking worse for wear himself, his bloodshot eyes watching Riza carefully. 

“Mustang, you look like hell.” 

The smile he gave her was broad and, she thought, not quite under his control, just brushing the edges of hysterical. “Rebecca, you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” 

“Colonel, you’ve said that to everyone you’ve met since you left Dr. Marcoh,” Riza said, stepping out of the embrace. 

“And I’ve meant it every single time.” 

“Flattery will get you almost everywhere, but I’m still holding out for a billionaire captain of industry. Preferably one with a brother for Riza.” They both smiled with her, but she saw neither had the heart for too much teasing tonight. “I’m taking you home,” she told Riza. “Hot showers and then we’ll go paint the town red, yeah?” 

“Nothing I’d rather do after a day like this one,” Riza said dryly. 

“Give you a ride somewhere, Roy?” 

He straightened in his seat and shook his head. “I want one more casualty report on the enlisted men.” 

“And then you’ll go home, sir.” Riza’s tone made it clear that this was not a question. He might have been the superior officer, but for the moment, he was taking his orders from her. “And you’re certainly not foolish enough to try to drive yourself.”

“I’ll catch a ride, Lieutenant.” He waved them away with a bandaged hand. “Go home, Hawkeye. Rest. Keep that one out of trouble if you can.”

"Hey!" Rebecca protested. 

Riza smiled at her. “It’s a tall order, sir, but I’ll do my best.” 

“You always do.” 

 

Riza’s apartment was dark when she let them in. Hayate – bigger than Rebecca remembered, more _dog_ than _puppy_ now – sniffed eagerly around their feet, giving a muffled ruff of welcome. 

“Good boy,” Riza murmured. She switched on a light and produced a leash from a hook inside the door. “He’ll need a walk.”

“You want some company?”

Riza bent to clip the leash to Hayate’s collar, ruffling the thick fur around his neck with rough affection. “No. Thanks. You shower, and I’ll spend some quality time with this guy. You remember where the towels are?”

“Yup.” When they left, Rebecca moved to the kitchen. If she put the water on now, it would be ready for tea by the time Riza came in. 

A sheaf of papers and envelopes occupied the counterspace next to the sink. Rebecca hadn’t meant to snoop, but she was there at the faucet to fill the kettle, and the clutter was so unlike Riza that she couldn’t help eyeballing the stack. 

Life insurance forms. The business card of a law firm, with a note that they held her will and documents related to her father’s estate. Contact info for Hayate’s vet and a kennel. Sealed envelopes labeled in Riza’s careful hand: Rebecca, Roy, Havoc, Fuery, Breda, Falman, Gracia, Elrics. 

Rebecca hadn't been the master codebreaker in their class at the Academy, but it didn’t take much deduction to understand what this little pile of instructions meant – Riza hadn’t expected to be coming home tonight. 

 

When Rebecca emerged from the steam-fogged bathroom, Riza was at the table, nursing a cup of tea. The kitchen counter was bare. Neither of them mentioned it. 

"I ordered from the noodle shop down the block. I had to promise the delivery boy it'd be worth his while to come out into the city tonight." 

"So you're saying I should answer the door in a towel?" She gave her hips a little shimmy, drawing a quiet chuckle from Riza. 

"Well, I was thinking more along the lines of a good tip, but don't let me stop your fun." 

While Riza washed the day off, Rebecca worked her way through the apartment: Stashing bloodied laundry out of sight, to be cleaned or destroyed on some other night. Putting a set of clean, soft sheets on Riza's bed. Accepting the takeout, only making the delivery boy blush a little bit. Finding Riza's whiskey, still stashed in the same cupboard, and pouring a generous measure for each of them. 

They curled up on Riza's sofa in their sleep clothes and ate dinner straight from the cartons. It felt almost like being back at the Academy, except for Hayate at their feet - begging scraps with greater success than any soldier would have expected from strict Lt. Hawkeye. 

"I am very, very tired," Riza pronounced, pouring an extra dash of whiskey into her empty cup. "But I don't know how I'll sleep." 

"It's been a _day_ ," Rebecca agreed. 

"A Promised Day," Riza echoed, her voice taking on a wobbly edge. 

Rebecca leaned over to bump their shoulders together. "But we did it. Those crazy kids. Your crazier Colonel. You and me. We're pretty fabulous, you know." 

"That we are." Riza's smile was small, but genuine, and Rebecca returned it tenfold. 

"We're still standing, and we'll do a dozen more impossible things." She drew Riza into another one-armed squeeze and pressed a kiss to her temple. "Tomorrow. After we sleep in very late."

"Agreed." Riza raised her cup in acknowledgment and sank deeper into the sofa, exhaustion and alcohol and relief undoing her usual excellent posture. 

"And maybe let some well-heeled gentlemen buy our drinks even later."

An honest giggle from Riza; just what she'd been fishing for all evening. "Never change, Rebecca. I don't know what I'd do."

"Back at you, sister. Right back at you."


End file.
